28 MARCH 1931, Page 3

The Leighton Buzzard Disaster The news that a Scottish express

had left the rails on its journey north last Sunday morning shocked the public mind the more profoundly since disasters on such a scale are mercifully rare in this country. The death-roll was miraculously low ; but the appalling swiftness of these catastrophes, as well as the distressing scenes which follow them, are among the bitterest prices we pay for the bles- sings of mechanization. The popular Press exploited them with its customary relish.